Scriptures: Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35
Reflection by Nancy Jo Bleier, Worship Leader
Reflection 9/13/26. Season of Creation
As Kit mentioned last Sunday there are scriptures that make her squirm. This passage from Matthew 18: 21-35 has always made me cringe. In reading through it I realized that the parable isn’t about being revengeful but about forgiveness. Looking at all of our readings today the theme is forgiveness.
What are your thoughts about forgiveness? Does talking about it make you squirm? This is a principle that is central in church relations and resolving conflict. This seventy times seven is found in Genesis 4:24 and Luke 17: 3b-4 - all related to forgiveness using an exaggeration to get the point across. So I did the math of 70 x 7 = 490 times.
I am just back from visiting the Canadian Maritimes. One stop was to the Millbrook Cultural and Heritage Center, Nova Scotia. This museum is dedicated to the region’s indigenous Mi’kmaq people. Our interpreter/staff member told her family’s story of Canadian Reconciliation for boarding school trauma. The mass graves found of the children on school grounds. I can not remember her exact words; more of the tone I heard. Their pain has been for generations. They were forgotten. She talked about how her father and his family needed to be forgiven. How her people had to learn not only how to survive but how to show love and care for others. We were in tears and so was she as she told her story. We have heard this story in the USA especially around religious boarding schools. The trauma that goes on for generations with alcoholism and poverty haunting families.
Let us hear again today’s Gospel reading from the First Nations Version: An Indigenous Bible Translation of the New Testament:
Stands on the Rock (Peter) came close to Creator Sets Free (Jesus). “Wisdomkeeper,” he asked, “how may times must I forgive a brother or sister who does wrong to me? Is seven times enough?” “Not just seven times,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered, “but seventy times seven.”
To help them see more clearly into the ways of forgiveness, he told them a story. “
So then, Creator’s good road is like a ruler who wanted to collect the debt owed to him by his hired servants. The first one brought to him owed ten thousand horses. The man could not repay him, so the ruler ordered that the man, his family, and all he owned be sold to pay for the debt.
“The servant fell to his knees before him and said, ‘Ruler, give me time and I will repay all that I owe!’
“The ruler felt sorry for the servant, set him free, and released him from his debt.
“But that same servant went to one of his fellow servants who owed him only a small horse blanket. He took hold of the man’s throat and said, ‘Pay me all that you owe!’
“The man humbled himself, bowed down and pleaded, ‘Please, give me more time and I will repay you!’
“But he would not even listen and threw the man into prison until he could pay all that he owed. When his fellow servants saw this, it made their hearts fall to the ground. They went to the ruler and told him the sad story.
“The ruler had the man brought to him and said, “You worthless servant! How could your heart be so cold? I forgave you all your debt because you begged me to. Why would you not do the same for your fellow servant?”
“The ruler was angry with him and put him in prison to be punished until his debt was paid in full.”
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked deep into the eyes of the ones who walked the road with him.
“My Father from above is warning you that the same thing will happen to you
unless, from your heart, you each forgive your fellow human beings.”
“Forgive from your heart” is what I hear and read in both of these versions. Feeling sincerity. The unleashing of love for the wrongs that have been committed. Give up or cease feeling resentment. Grant relief from payments /debts.
From the Season of Creation for Episcopal Parishes listen to the following words.
“Nothing is Lost” from Ladder to the Light, Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston. Citizen of the Choctaw Nation, author, served as Bishop of Alaska, staff officer for Native American ministries and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity school.
“In the days of conquest, when darkness covered the land, the hoop of many nations was broken, the story of many people lost—-and lost forever. The number who perished will never be counted, but their graves are still here. Their testimony is written into the earth. The wisdom of the ancestors is a mist over the valley, a cloud passing before the moon. The teachings of the elders can be heard in the rain, the message of the poets seen in the first stars that put the sun to bed. Nothing is finally lost. The ancient visions are within us. The old dreams are part of us. The steady rhythm of hope was never silenced. It beats today for all who would hear it. It beats within me. It beats within you. Life is still growing beneath the concrete. The sound of the earth is breathing beneath the glass and steel.”
Someone who embodied Bishop Steven Charleston’s words is Joel Jackson, Kake Tribal Leader who died 8/29/26. His legacy is his advocacy for protection of the Tongass National Forest, subsistence and other Indigenous rights, obtaining an apology from the US Navy in 2024 for its 1869 bombardment of Kake, and Alaska Native cultural healing projects. He cared and mentored others to care. Daily Sitka Sentinel obituary quotes his uncle Ken Jackson who said ‘’ Joel listened a lot to the older ones… he had an ability to listen and then make a decision.”
As we move forward in our service and out the doors of this church, I ask you to listen to the wind, the birds, to music and to voices of others who are hurting. Pray without ceasing from your heart to forgive seventy times seven for reconciliation of justice, peace and healing for our community of creation.
Gloria to God, sustaining, redeeming, sanctifying, as in the beginning, so now, and forever. Amen.
Nancy Jo Bleier, Worship Leader